ROYAL COMMISSION WRAPS UP

The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has now concluded its public hearings.

The final round of hearings featured the leaders of our major banks and the AMP. The focus of the hearings was not “what happened”, but “why was it allowed to happen in the first place?”.

The attitudes and approaches of Boards and senior executives, and the focus on short term revenue and profit to the detriment of customer and consumer needs were topics that were discussed at length. The insurance industry was not discussed in the final round of hearings at all.

NIBA CEO, Dallas Booth says, “It is pleasing that despite all the misconduct revealed by the Royal Commission, across most areas of financial services, there was no mention of any systemic issues or concerns leading to misconduct by general insurance brokers. There was virtually no mention of insurance brokers during the entire Royal Commission.  This is a true reflection of the excellent work brokers do for their clients each and every day.”

The final report is due to be submitted to the Governor-General by 1 February 2019.​ “We now wait until February for the Royal Commissioner to complete his report and recommendations,” Booth continued.  The commission has received 10140 submissions and the Interim Report of the Financial Services Royal Commission was submitted to the Governor-General and tabled in the parliament on September, 28.

Booth said, “We will monitor developments in the meantime, and NIBA will continue to explain the good work that insurance brokers do to regulators, Members of Parliament, Ministers and Shadow Ministers.”